Feed mechanism for carding-machines



2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

( No Model.)

Patented June 23, 1896.

ANDREW BGRAHAM. VHOTULWNQWASHINGWN, DC.

(No Model.) v2 SheetsSheet 2. J. HOGG. FEED MECHANISM FOR GARDING MACHINES.

No. 562,610. Patented June 23, 1896.

Zaalfrzasaaw:

)z/wa UNITED STATES PATENT ()EEIcE.

JAMES HOGG, OF AMSTERDAM, NEWV YORK.

FEED MECHANISM FOR CARDlNG-MACHINES.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 562,610, dated June 23, 1896.

Application filed October 15, 1895. Serial No. 565,754. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JAMES HOGG, a citizen of the United States, residing at Amsterdam, county of Montgomery, and State of New York, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Feed Mechanisms for Carding-Machines, of which the following is a specification.

The invention relates to such improvements; and it consists of the novel construction and combination of parts hereinafter described and subsequently claimed.

Reference may be had to the accompanying drawings, and the letters of reference marked thereon, which form a part of this specification.

Similar letters refer to similar partsin both views. I a

Figure 1 of the drawings is a central vertical cross-section of the feed-chute and rollers and a part of the main carding-cylinder. Fig. 2 is a similar view showing a modified arrangement and form of rollers and showing a weighing-pan in place of the main cylinder.

A is a vertical chute or fixed box, open at top and bottom and provided at or near the bottom with a pair of feed-regulators A and A The regulators each consist of a roller A rotating in suitable bearings (not shown) and provided with radial arms or blades A to guide the stock. The regulators are located on opposite sides of the chute and rotate in the direction of the arrows shown in Fig. 1 to regulate the downward flow of the stock, which may be wool, cotton, or the like, engageable by the blades A Subjacent to the regulators are the two feed-rolls B and B, also rotating in suitable bearings and provided with rearwardly-inclined teeth B which engage the stock as they rotate in the direction indicated by the arrows, and feed it down to the bur-cylinder 13 which acts upon the stock in conjunction with the worker-rolls B in the usual well-known manner, the direction of rotation of the respective rolls being indicated by arrows.

The bu r-cylinders B strippers B and tu1nbler B serve to carry the stock from the large bur-cylinder B to the main cylinder B of a carding-machine or to a weighing-pan B The carding and weighing mechanisms being old and well known are not fully shown.

The feed-rolls rotate faster than the feedregulators, the workers faster than the feedrolls, the bur cylinder 13 faster than the workers. The bur-cylinders B have a still greater peripheral speed, but not equal to that of the main cylinder of the carding-ma chine. It is obvious, therefore, that there is a continual draft on the stock from the time it leaves the feed-regulators until it enters the carding-machine, and that the draft is equal upon two opposite sides, which keeps the fibers comparatively straight and pre- Vents them from rolling up or balling, as in apparatus heretofore in use.

The apparatus heretofore largely in use for feeding stock to carding-machines comprises a toothed endless apron, which was made to travel along one side only of a supply of stock located on an incline, which urged the stock against the apron. As a result the body of stock between the incline and apron was subjected to a rotary movement induced by the portions descending the incline on one side and ascending with the apron on the opposite side. Such rotary movement caused the stock to roll up into balls and feed unevenly and in packed or knotted condition.

My improved apparatus enables me to treat the opposite sides of the stock in the same manner to straighten out the fibers and remove or open up all the packed or knotty portions. I am also able to regulate the supply of the stock fed by regulating the speed of the feed-regulators or by increasing or diminishing the proximity to each other of the feed-rollers, as well as their speed. By means of the bur-cylinders and strippers I am also able to remove burs and other foreign substances before the stock reaches the carding machine proper.

The stock may be deposited in the chute by hand, by a blower, or in any known manner, and the chute may be of any desired length or shape, as required.

My invention relates simply to the feeding mechanism. The use of a vertical chute enables me to feed the stock in bulk and by gravity, down to feed-regulating rolls which act equally upon opposite sides of the mass as soon as it leaves the chute and does not subject the mass to that rolling and balling motion as heretofore practiced in apparatus feeding from the mass automatically.

Referring to Fig. 1 of the drawings, the bur-cylinder B is the first drafting-wheel which draws directly from the middle of the mass of material in the lower end of the chute. This draft is partly resisted by the relatively slow regulators A and A directly in the outlet of the chute, one upon one side of the chute and the other upon the opposite side. The draft of cylinder B is still further resisted by the resisting toothed: rolls B B, interposed between the regulators and drafting-roll. It is obvious that the number of pairs of resisting-rolls, or of drafting-rolls,

may be increased to any desired limit withi chines, the combination with a gravity-feed out affecting the scope of my invention.

The leading feature of my invention consists in the combination of a vertical or grav ity-feed chute with oppositely-disposed-guiding and feeding mechanism,whereby the ma-- terial to be fed to the carding machine will be automatically fed from the mass,without imparting to any portion of the mass a rolling motion tending to formballs inthe mass which arenot conducive to good results.

If the mass is properly handled before it comes into engagement with thedrafting and other toothed rolls, the operation of straightenin g out and paralleling the fibersis greatly by Letters Patent, is-- 1. In a feeding mechanism for carding-machines, the combination with a gravity-feed chute, of a toothed drafting-roll, and one or ,more pairs of cooperating resisting-rolls interposed between the drafting-roll and the chute-outlet, the individual rolls of each pair 5 being located on opposite sides of such outlet, substantially as described.

2. In a feeding mechanism for carding-majchines, the combination with a gravity-feed chute, a pair of rotary feed-regulators oppositely disposed at the outlet of the chute, and

a pair of subjacent, toothed, resisting-rolls,

of a toothed drafting-roll cooperating with theresisting and regulating rolls, and means for imparting rotary movements to the regulators and rolls, the speed of the rotary movementsbeing greatest in the rolls farthest removed from the chute, substantially as described.

3. In a feeding mechanism for carding-machute, and a series of drafting-rolls, of a pair of feed-regulators cooperating-with the drafting-rolls and rotating inthe outlet of the g chute, one ononeside of the chute and the other on the opposite side, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto-set my hand this 5th day of October, 1895.

JAMES HOGG.

- Witnesses r SAM'L. THOMASON, JOHN OVEREND. 

